Missouri fans have heard the story. A kid rips up the Texas high school football ranks, leading one of the state's perennial powers to three straight state championship games. He puts up numbers that seem as if they have to be made up. He goes down as one of the best players in his high school's history. And the Division One coaches in the Lone Star State ignore him. He's too short, they say. He can't play at the next level, they think.

Yes, by now, the story of Chase Daniel's journey to Missouri has been told often. But this isn't a story about Daniel. With much less fanfare, sophomore running back Earl Goldsmith followed virtually the same path to Columbia.

"He was unbelievable," Daniel said of Goldsmith. "He was one of the best running backs I've ever seen in high school football. Just watching him run with the football and the things he did "

In two years as a starter at Denton Ryan High, Goldsmith ran for 3,157 yards and 30 touchdowns. He caught 54 passes for 599 yards and nine more touchdowns. And yet, his phone didn't ring all that much.